The Secrets of the Black Arts is the second album made by Sweden's Dark Funeral, after their highly acclaimed debut mCD. In my humble opinion, this is one of the greatest black metal albums ever made. Dark Funeral can create one of the darkest atmospheres, with mesmerizing and blood freezing melodies, even if the music is very brutal and aggressive. There is no big differences between the songs, so some might find this album pretty monotonous and I understand their point when they say that's a boring album, but personally I love it (I don't really care if it is repetitive, because here the music is great). The lyrics are about satanism, and could be better on some songs (the lyrics of the fifth song, 'When Angels Forever Die', are almost stupid), but the majority of them spread a mystical 'feeling', especially on 'The Secrets of the Black Arts', 'BloodFrozen' and 'Dark Are the Paths to Eternity'. This last song is different than the others, because it is more melodic and has a desperate atmosphere on it... the lyrics here are about night and death...

The vocals are totally insane, high shouted, and sometimes followed by a cool echo or some infernal growls that add an infernal touch (!) to the music. On several songs there are some spoken vocals. Finally, the production is good, but not perfect : many melodies are hard to hear (listen to a live performance of this band and you will 'see' the melodic potential of this band) and the sound is somewhat ear-tearing at high volume.

Some people calls this band 'son of Marduk', but I do not agree. Others say that they play unoriginal black metal, but again I do not agree. Yes, you can find some influences from Marduk, especially on their debut mini CD, but Dark Funeral has its own and unique sound, and few bands can give us this dark, evil, cryptic and cold atmosphere (not cold like a snow storm, but cold like your grand mother's dead body).

© 1999 cythrawl